Rupp earned his BA in Political Science from the University of Missouri-Columbia in 1995.

Rupp was an Investment Representative/Owner of Rupp & Associates. He has also worked as a Mortgage Broker and Owner of Educational Funding & Financial Aid Specialists.

Rupp was a member of the State Board for First Steps. He served in the Missouri State House of Representatives from 2003 to 2006. He then won a special election for the Missouri State Senate in April of 2006. He has served in that position since, representing the 2nd district.

Committee assignments

2011-2012

In the 2011-2012 legislative session, Rupp has been appointed to these committees:

Congress members Jo Ann Emerson, Blaine Luetkemeyer, Todd Akin, Vicky Hartzler and Sam Graves were said to have joined the conversation in person or via phone link.

The redistricting stalemate between the Missouri House and Senate has spurred debate and Crowell's warning of a filibuster against any attempt to pass the House version of the redistricting map.

The controversy concentrates on the way the two maps divide St. Charles and Jefferson Counties. The House map splits St. Charles County in two and Jefferson County three ways. The Senate map features a compact St. Charles County, and only two divisions in Jefferson County.[1]

Political positions

Debt negotiations

Rupp is one of the members of a bipartisan group organized by the National Conference of Legislatures called the Task Force on Federal Deficit Reduction (TFFDR). Consisting of 23 state lawmakers from 17 states,[2] the group went to Capitol Hill on September 21, 2011 to urge the Congressional Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction to cut the nation's debt but not impose severe budget cuts on the states.

TFFDR urged the Committee to consider new revenue as a possibility, instead of just focusing on budget cuts as House Speaker John Boehner has proposed. The group specifically proposed passage of the "Main Street Fairness Act," which would allow states to tax online retailers.[3]

Issues

Voter photo-ID law

“Why shouldn’t we use this to guarantee the safety of our most sacred thing which is your right to vote?”[4] Rupp said when prompted to provide his view on increasing voter identification requirements at the April 23 College Republican State Convention debate. He supports the underlying mission of one of his Republican primary opponents, Rep. Shane Schoeller, who is currently sponsoring a bill to reduce voter-fraud by requiring voters to show proof of citizenship at the polls. He doesn't, however, support the bill as it is written due to the obstacles it would place before troops trying to vote absentee from overseas. Rupp and the third Republican primary candidate, fellow Sen. Bill Stouffer, agree that if the bill's language is changed, as Schoeller claims will happen, they will vote for the law. Rupp pointed out that "voter photo identification is necessary for common security, and is already used with credit cards, bank accounts and in the work place."[4]

Fraud

In addition to stricter voter identification measures, Rupp wants to take advantage of available technologies, such as electronic poll books, that would help curb voter fraud by at once verifying the voter and also ensuring he/she is not registered to vote in multiple places.